page_title: Thomas Brassey
section_title: The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Brassey / The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada
caption_attribution_description: English: The Victoria Bridge under construction, c. 1858–1860
context_page_description: Thomas Brassey was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one in every twenty miles of railway in the world. This included three-quarters of the lines in France, major lines in many other European countries and in Canada, Australia, South America and India. He also built the structures associated with those railways, including docks, bridges, viaducts, stations, tunnels and drainage works.
  As well as railway engineering, Brassey was active in the development of steamships, mines, locomotive factories, marine telegraphy, and water supply and sewage systems. He built part of the London sewerage system, still in operation today, and was a major shareholder in Brunel's The Great Eastern, the only ship large enough at the time to lay the first transatlantic telegraph cable across the North Atlantic, in 1864. He left a fortune of over £5 million, equivalent to about £600 million in 2020.
context_section_description: In 1852 Brassey took out the largest contract of his career, which was to build the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. This line passed from Quebec, along the valley of the Saint Lawrence River, and then to the north of Lake Ontario to Toronto. The line totalled 539 miles (867 km) in length. The consulting engineer for the project was Robert Stephenson and the company's engineer for the whole undertaking was Alexander Ross. Brassey worked in partnership with Peto, Betts and Sir William Jackson. The line crossed the river at Montreal by the Victoria Bridge. This was a tubular bridge designed by Robert Stephenson and was the longest bridge in the world at the time, measuring some 1.75 miles (3 km). The bridge opened in 1859 and the formal opening ceremony was carried out the following year by the Prince of Wales. The construction of the line caused considerable problems.  The main problem was the raising of the necessary finance and at one stage Brassey travelled to Canada to appeal personally for assistance.  Other difficulties arose from the severity of the Canadian winter, the waterways being frozen for around six months each year, and resistance from Canadian businessmen.  The line was an engineering success but a financial failure, with the contractors losing £1 million.
caption: Victoria Bridge under construction
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